Antique Kitchener-made pump organ finds new home

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Elizabeth Scott, 85, says she had at least seven inquiries about the Ontario-made instrument.

She and her late husband bought the pump organ, sometimes called a harmonium, from an antiques store in Southampton, north of Port Elgin, Ont., for their daughter in the early 1980s. It sat largely unused in their recreation room in the basement, though occasionally played by her daughter. Scott had it refurbished and tuned several years ago.

There’s a touch of sadness in seeing it go, said Scott, who also sold a piano in preparation for moving to a smaller home. It brought happy memories, she said.

She sold it for $300 to Rob Reid, a chemical sales manager from Richmond Hill who restores instruments as a hobby.

“I’m going to make it more user-friendly,” said Reid, who plans to add an electric air supply to the organ so that pedal-pumping is no longer necessary.

Reid was among several individuals who called Scott after the article appeared, including one pianist who expressed interest in sending the instrument to Cuba for charity.

Officials from two Kitchener museums made phone inquiries, as did one local municipal councillor for that city. The pump organ was manufactured in Kitchener, then called Berlin, around the time of the First World War by the long-closed Berlin Piano and Organ Company.

Scott had hired professional movers to lift the organ, the size of an upright piano, from her basement to the garage, at a cost of $165, about a week before she sold it. She reasoned it would be easier to sell if people didn’t have to undertake that expense themselves.

Scott said she herself didn’t much play the instrument, finding the pumping by foot too hard work. “The organ actually played extremely well,” she said, but needed some refurbishing.

Reid, who has repaired a number of keyboards before, said he planned to restore the pump organ and then drive it up to cottage for his family to enjoy.